Responding to the above Facebook meme (click to enlarge), he had this to say.
As a protest against Margaret Thatcher this one is so misguided that it’s actually awesome, as they’re proposing to prove her very point by acting as individuals to the betterment of other individuals. The problem is of course that her “no such thing as society” quote is always taken so far out of context as to hardly count as a quote. the oh so often quoted line is of course:
“There is no such thing as society.”
But the more complete quote is:
“There is no such thing as society. There is living tapestry of men and women and people and the beauty of that tapestry and the quality of our lives will depend upon how much each of us is prepared to take responsibility for ourselves and each of us prepared to turn round and help by our own efforts those who are unfortunate.”
Which is rather saying something completely different to what her detractors would like to think. If they didn't claim on the image that Mrs Thatcher didn't believe in society, I can think of no better tribute to her than large numbers of people turning round and by their own efforts helping others. For those that are interested a fuller transcript can be found here.Isn't this much-shared new sentiment from the left precisely what we libertarians have been advocating for years?
Some believe that top-down state bureaucracy is the only way to solve any problem - the kneejerk 'what is the government going to do about this' response. We, however, have always thought that mentality to be a gross insult to the general public and damaging to society as a whole. I believe that individuals are perfectly capable of organising themselves better than government ever can, and to say otherwise exhibits a dislike and distrust of people in general.
On a day like this, I can think of no better tribute to Baroness Thatcher than the left joining the "living tapestry of men and women" in order to "help by our own efforts those who are unfortunate".
Long live today's new consensus.
PS Being in transport, I forgive people who cut me up every day. It's really not difficult.
